Michael Spencer's Make It Green: Christmas traditions have deep roots

Make It Green

Readers: Today's column and the one next week have holiday themes and I will back to gardening on Jan. 6. I'd much like your reaction.

How much they have

Stephen Greenblatt agreeably recounts early Christianity in "The Swerve," a telling of the rediscovery of Lucretius' poem "On the Nature of Things."

No other extant work more clearly contrasts the profound change in world thinking brought by Christianity, or the effect of contemporary writers on the formation of Christian doctrine. The ancient world stands as a towering intellectual achievement. Early Church Fathers needed a way forward that would co-opt or include these ideas.

And they were bedeviled by philosophers like Epicurus (341-270 BCE). Many of the tenants of Epicureanism were congruous with Christianity, but the new religion was deeply involved in a war for minds and hearts, and 'almost' wouldn't do.

Tertullian (160-220 CE), a deeply committed Christian, famously noted that the Christians of the day resembled a council of frogs croaking at the top of their lungs, 'For our sakes was the world created'", the point being that moderation would be useful.

Epicurus was a disparager of faith: should gods exist, no doubt they had little interest in humanity, reminding one of Thomas Hardy. Scholars like Tertullian were enchanted with the peaks of humanism achieved by the Romans and Greeks.

Lucretius rediscovered

Lucretius' (99 BCE 55 CE) is one of humanity's truest treasures for the summary of thinking and for his effect on Christian thinking, largely through Epicurus. Epicureans held that pleasure is life's greatest goal, a pleasure to be gained only through knowledge, studying and learning. They celebrated "friendship, the emphasis on charity and forgiveness, a suspicion of worldly ambition," says Greenblatt.

The biggest problem for contemporary Christians, though, was Lucretius' antipathetic denial of incarnation. Why, he wondered, would a human hold more value than an elephant?

How did Christian polemicists answer the arguments from the past? Greenblatt again: 'what had to be done was to refashion the account of the founder Epicurus so that he appeared no longer as an apostle of moderation but instead as a Falstaffian figure of riotous excess'.

Dirty pool, in a more modern parlance. Going negative.

And there were other arguments: some held that the roles of pain and pleasure (nowhere in the Bible does Jesus show pleasure) were to be reversed, following Jesus' example. Clearly not Epicurean.

And now comes Christmas 2011

Born and raised Episcopalian, I left the faith at 15 when Father Duell explained that the concept of Trinity was a matter of faith, which simply equates observable with supernatural events. Christian history knows that the Trinity wasn't dogma until partly accepted in 381. I converted to Judaism in 1980, mostly because I did think there exists a god 'living in everything', a thought now repugnant.

Now this: Every year after Thanksgiving I begin playing Christmas carols. Suzie and I exchange Christmas and Hanukkah presents. There are some Jewish songs, but really the Christian canon is huge, lovely, and one can only take so many dreidels or Ma'oz Tzur renditions. Why do I do this? Partly for Suzie's students, partly to get into the spirit of the season. And why not?

But what is that spirit? Does it actually include a 'war on Christmas'? Really? I am reminded of Epicurus' image of frogs all lined up, all shouting, as frogs are may be inclined, 'for our sakes was the world created'. Further, admonished by Jesus, there is the obligatory evangelism, sometimes annoying non-Christians.

How does a cross on public land move the ball forward? Or: recently in Santa Monica, the City Fathers wisely allow a lottery for certain spaces suitable for holiday display. Christians won three. The LA Times quotes an unsuccessful bidder: 'by trying to push the Nativity scene out of the park and silence us, these people are infringing on our freedom and 1st Amendment rights '

We lost Christopher Hitchens recently, a man of letters of the Old School, and a man much admired by Christian thinkers for his directness and his fairness. I loved him because I will never write a line worthy of insertion into anything he ever wrote. I write more than 1000 words a day. Hitch was a writer.

But I remember his discussion on learning and using Spanish in America, his adopted country. He held that the strongest society would win: if English and America are strong and robust, Spanish will never become the language of the land, legislation or not. This remains a fair way to ascertain our social — and,may I add — our religious health.

Don't forget that your Design Pundit makes free presentations to HOAs about how to lower maintenance and more wisely choose plant material. Just email ms@msadesign.com.

Michael Spencer, ASLA, has been practicing landscape architecture since 1979 and is president of MSA Design Inc. Learn more at www.msadesign.com or contact Michael by email: ms@msadesign.com. His website is www.msadesign.com. And watch for his forthcoming book on tropical plants.